Postgraduates secure jobs more easily than graduates

13 Sep 2013

The Higher Education Careers Services Unit (HECSU) released new research this week, which suggests that recent postgraduates are more likely to find professional employment than graduates.
The survey What do graduates do? revealed the destinations of 240,000 graduates and 80,000 postgraduates in January 2013, six months after graduation. 86% of postgraduates found employment in comparison to 74% of graduates. Significantly, 91% of postgraduates had found employment in professional or managerial roles compared to 65% of graduates.
Funding continued to be the biggest barrier to those considering further study, with the majority (55%) being self funded.
HECSU’s deputy director of research, Charlie Ball, said that further study ‘isn’t a tactic to delay getting a job, but a destination that has positive outcomes, with many choosing to study career-related subjects’.
However, for those considering further study he advises people to ‘tread with some caution…there are no obvious career paths for many postgraduate degrees, the landscape is complex, and career trajectories vary hugely by subject, so it’s vital to seek good advice and talk to careers services before making a decision’.
Find out more about some universities that offer postgraduate courses.